The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-11-09


have in time of religious awakening had per
sons night after night come into tue inqu!r,
room and get 10 peace OF SOUL AlGF
while | have hluntiy asked her: rs tner'
not some one against whom you have
hatred that YOU are not willing to g.va up!
After little confusion she mas sh?Ht!S .?sWnS
WHISPERED: s'Yes" Then | said to her: ~ OIL
will never find peace with God as long as
you retain that virulence."
A boy in Sparta, having stolen fox, kept
him under his coat, and, though the fox was
cnawing his vitals, he submitted to it rather
than expose his misdeed. Many man With
smiling face has under his jacket an AM:
mostly that is gnawing away the strength or
his body and the integrity ofhiS SOUL Better
get rid Ct that hidden fox as soon as possible,
There are hundreds of domestic circles where
that which most is needed is the spirit or Tor.
piveness. Brothers apart and sisters apart
and parents and children apart Solomon
saws a brother offended is harder to he won
than strong city. Are there not enough
sacred memories of your childhood to bring
YOU together! The rabbins recount how that
: Nebuchadnezzar's son had such spite
against his father that after he was
dead be had his father burned to
: ashes, and then put the ashes into
four sacks. and tied them to four eagles
necks which flew away in opposite directions
And there are now domestic antlpathleS
/ which seem forever to have scattered all
! parental memories to the four winds OF
heaven. How far the eagles fly with the ne
sacred ashes The hour of sundown makes TO
that family no practical suggestion. Thomas
Carlyle, in his biography of Frederick the
Great, says the old king was told by the con-
fessor he must be at peace with his enemies II
he wanted to enter heaven. Then he said to
his wife, the Queen: "Write to your brother
after am dead that forgive him." koloH,
the confessor, said: ''Her majesty had better
write him immediately No" said the
King. "after am dead; that will be safer.''
So he let the sun of his earthly existence go
down upon his wrath.
Again: We ought not to allow the sun to set
before forgiveness takes place, because we
might not live to see another day. And what
if we should he ushered into the presence OF
our Maker with grudge upon our soul! The
majority of people depart this life in the
night Between l o'clock p. m. and oc CLOCK
a m. there is something in the atmosphere
which relaxes the grip which the body has on
the soul, and most people enter the next
world through the shadows of this world
Perhaps God may have arranged it in
that way so as to make the con-
trast the more glorious. 1 have seen
sunshny days in this world that must have
been almost like the radiance of heaven But
as most people leave the earth between sun
down and sunrise, they quit this world at It's
darkest, and heaven, always bright, VIII oe
the brighter for that contrast Out OF black
ness into irradiaton Shall we then leap over
the roseate bank of sunset into the favorlte
hunting ground Of disease and death, carry
ing our animoSities with us! Who would
want to confront his God, against whom we
have all done meaner things than anybody
has ever done against us, carrying oia
grudges? How can we expect his forgive
ness for the greater when we are
not willing to forgive. others, the less!
Napoleol was encouraged to undertake he
crossing OF the Alps becaus, Carlemagne
had previously crossed them. And all this
rugged path Of forgiveness bears the bleeding
footsteps of him who conquered through
suffering, and we ought to be willing to fol-
low. On the night Of our departure from
this life into the next, our one plea will have
to be for mercy, and it will have to he
offered in the presence of him who has
said: eff you forgive not men their tres
passes neither will your heavenly Father for
give your trespasses" What sorry plight
If we stand there hating this one, and hating
that one and wishing this one damage and
some one else a calamity, and we ourselves
needing forgiveness for ten thousand times ten
thousand obliquities of heart and life. when
our last hour comes, we want it to find US all
right Hardly anything affects Inc so much
in the uncovering Of ancient Po:nreil as the
account of the soldier who, after the city had
for many centuries been covered with the
ashes and scori8 of Eesuvius, was found
standing in his place on guard, hand on spear
submergement, but the explorer, 1.7OO years
after, found the body Of that brave fellow in
right position. And it will be grand thing
if, when our last moment comes, we are
found in right position toward the world, as
well as in right position toward God, OH
guard and unatfrighted by the ashes from the
mountain of death. I do not suppose that l
am any more of a coward than most people,
but declare to you that I would not dare to
sleep tonight if there were any being in oil
the earth with whom l would not gladly
shake hands, lest during the night hours,
nv soul dismissed to other realms, l should,
because of my unforgiving spirit, be denied
divine forgiveness.
But" says some woman, There is hor-
rid creature that has so injured me that rather
than make up with her l would die first.
Well, sister, you may take your choice
for one or the other it will be-your COM
plete pardon of her or Gods eternal Danish
ment of you But" says some man
"tbat fellow who cheated me out of those
goods, or damaged my business credit, or
started the lie about me in the newspapers,
or by his perady broke up my domes mes
tic happiness, forgive him l cannot-for'
give him will not.n WE'LL brother, take
your choice. You will never be at peace
with God till you are at peace with man.
Feeling as you now do, you would not get so
near the harbor of heaven as to see the light
ship. Better leave that man with the God who
said: vengeance is mine, will repay"
You may say: 81 will make him sweat for
that yet, I will make him squirm, mean to
pursue him to the DEATH" but you are dam,
aging yourself more than you damage him
and you are making heaven for your own
soul an impossibility. If he will not be
five or six hours it will be sundown. The
dahlias will soon bloom against the western
sky. Somewhere between this and that take a
shovel and bury the old grudge at least six
feet deep. LET not the sun go down on your
wrath"
"But," you say, 81 have more than can
bear; too much is put upon me, and am not
to blame if am somewhat revengeful and
unrelenting" Then think of the little child
at the moving of some goods from store
The father was putting some rolls of goods
on the childs arm, package after package,
and some one said: THAT child is being over
her" when the child responded: Father
knows how much I can carry" and God, our
Father, will not allow too much imposition
on his children. In the day Of eternity it
will be found you had not one annoyance too
many, not one aspersion too many, not one
outrage too many Your heavenly Father
knows how much you can carry.
Again, we ought not to allow the passage
of the sunset hour before the dismissal OF oil
our affronts, because we may associate the
sublimest action Of the soul with the subllm-
estspectacle in nature. 1t is n most delight
some thing to have our personal experiences
| II. IL l. 10